White Americans will be in the minority by 2042

White people will no longer make up a majority of Americans by 2042 - eight years sooner than government estimates made in 2004.

The U.S. has been growing more diverse for decades but the process has sped up through immigration and higher birth rates among minority residents, especially Hispanics.

It is also growing older.

White Americans in Times Square, New York City: But by 2042 they will no longer be the majority population

Currently white non-Hispanics make up about two-thirds of the American population.

However only 55 per cent of those younger than five are white.

The white population in America has been ageing, while more diverse groups such as blacks and Hispanics have been increasing

'The white population is older and very much centred around the ageing baby boomers who are well past their high fertility years,' said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think-tank.

'The future of America is epitomised by the young people today. They are basically the melting pot we are going to see in the future.'

The trend means that by 2050 whites will make up just 46 per cent of the population.

Blacks will make up 15 per cent, only a relatively small increase from today.

Hispanics, who make up about 15 per cent of the population today, will account for 30 per cent in 2050, a leap of some 15 per cent, according to the projections.

Asians, which make up about 5 per cent of the population, are projected to increase to 9 per cent by 2050.

The population 85 and older is projected to more than triple by 2050, to 19million.

The United States has been growing more diverse for decades, but the process has sped up through immigration and higher birth rates among minority residents, especially Hispanics.

The Census Bureau today released the population projections through 2050, based on rates for births, deaths and immigration.

They are subject to big revisions, depending on immigration policy, cultural changes and natural or manmade disasters.

The US has nearly 305million people today. The population is projected to hit 400million in 2039 and 439million in 2050.

That's like adding all the people from France and Britain, said Steve A Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington group that advocates tighter immigration policies.